Unwilling Pawn by Measha Stone

Chapter 29

Christian

Seven months later

Amelia sat on the balcony trying to hide her cup of coffee from me. The doctor had been very clear about her caffeine intake, but the woman craved coffee now more than anything else. She’d barely touched it before.

But now, round with my son growing in her belly, she couldn’t get enough of it. And she absolutely refused decaf.

I opened the door to the balcony and cleared my throat.

“Shit.” She pressed her hand to her chest. “Do you have to scare me like that? It’s not good for the baby.” She turned her face up at me with a hard glare.

“Oh?” I pointed to her cup. “And the coffee is? Sitting out here in the cold is?” It was a mild winter as they went in New York, but she still had to bundle up in order to sit outside.

“You’d smell it if I was inside. You’re like a damned hound.” She turned back around in her chair.

“I really hope the cursing is a side effect of the pregnancy.” I held out my hand to help her out of the chair. She brought her cup with her, which I promptly took from her hand.

“I thought you had work today,” she grumbled as she moved back inside into the warmth of the penthouse.

“I do. I’m going to the office now. You have lessons this afternoon, and I wanted to see if you wanted a ride.”

“I like the walk,” she said, sounding exasperated with the topic. The studio was a ten-minute walk if she went slowly, but I still didn’t like the idea of her doing it. “Besides, I’m meeting with Uncle Igor for lunch before my first lesson.”

“Right.” I nodded. I’d forgotten about their weekly lunch date.

“Gregor hasn’t come back from Russia yet. I’m worried something happened.”

“He can hold his own.” I wasn’t going to tell her about the rumors spreading about the reasons Igor sent him to Russia, or what could be keeping him away. They were rumors, and if Igor wanted her to know, he would tell her. So long as she wasn’t in danger, I didn’t get involved with the Romanov family dealings.

“I talked with Hanna last night.” She sank down into a chair in the living room. “She wants to change schools.”

“I’m sure she does.”

“She doesn’t want you dictating everything about her life, Christian. And I can understand that.”

I pinned her with a hard glare. “Don’t worry about Hanna.”

She frowned. “You’re being overprotective.”

“She’s my little sister. She’s my responsibility.” I leaned down toward her and placed my hand on her belly. The baby kicked right at that moment and pride burst in my chest. A little fighter just like Amelia.

“She’s right. You’re impossible.”

“And you’re crabby.” I kissed her forehead. “I’ll leave you to your lunch with your uncle. But if you have any more caffeine today, I’ll bind your hands and fuck you until you beg for an orgasm that will never come.”

She blushed at my threat.

“Fine.” She waved her hand at me. “I’ll have green tea. Promise.”

I put her cup down on the table in the foyer and grabbed my coat from the front hall. “I’ll know if you disobey me.”

“I know,” she called from her seat. “You always do.”

I pressed the button for the elevator and looked at her. My wife, my lover, my best friend. My everything. Life couldn’t get better than that moment right then. Everything had fallen into place.

My phone buzzed, drawing my attention away from her. I hadn’t heard from Lukas in almost a week; it wasn’t like him to fall off the radar like that.

“Everything okay?” she asked, coming to the elevator with concern on her face.

I stared at my phone. “Lukas.”

“What about him?” She wrinkled her brow.

“He got married.”

Her eyes widened. “What? To who?”

The elevator doors slid open.

I kissed her again, shoving my phone back into my pocket. Whatever mess my brother was causing in Chicago would have to wait.

“I don’t know. But I’ll find out what’s going on.”

I stepped into the elevator. She smiled, waving at me as the doors slid closed. I’d give her five minutes before she went into the kitchen for another cup of coffee or a soda.

By the time I saw her again, she’d have earned herself a sweet punishment. And I would enjoy all the ways I could torture her for her misdeeds.

Life was good.

The End